Commissioners: Budget puts unfair burden on 900,000 county residents

By Joe Schoenmann

Saturday, Feb. 26, 2011 | 2 a.m.

Las Vegas is close to finishing its $42 million Mob Museum. Henderson is beginning construction on a $63 million space and science center. Meanwhile, Clark County can’t afford to fix the cracks in the pool at Sunset Park.

Commissioner Steve Sisolak is using such examples as he and Commission Chairwoman Susan Brager campaign against Gov. Brian Sandoval’s proposal to take $100 million from county coffers to balance the state budget.

The commissioners stated their case in a letter to Sandoval this week. Demonstrating just how precarious the fiscal situation is, Clark County managers asked department heads this week to find 9 percent budget cuts, or about $41 million. That would mean about 400 people could lose their jobs, although the county is hoping the Service Employees International Union makes concessions to reduce layoffs.

Another hope is the governor changes his budget proposal, Sisolak said. In their letter, he and Brager called the budget fundamentally unfair because unincorporated Clark County’s 900,000 residents are covering the rising costs for some services — University Medical Center, District Court, social services, air quality, elections and more — used by all 2 million county residents.

Here’s how they break it down:

Although Clark County receives property taxes to pay for the services, about 40 cents per $100, the recession has increased demand for social services and health care provided at UMC. But social services and UMC’s budgets don’t cover increased demand, forcing the county to make up the difference by taking money from other departments and services. A recent study concluded UMC, which lost $72 million in 2010, could close in three years because of funding problems.

Because residents from other county municipalities use UMC and the courts and social services, the county defines the additional expenses in these departments as “subsidies.” In fiscal year 2010, the county figures it will have subsidized residents of Clark County’s incorporated cities — Henderson, Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Mesquite and Boulder City — by about $36 million.

On top of that, the letter says, Sandoval’s proposal to take $100 million from the county during the next two years will increase that subsidy to $45 million annually.

Sisolak said Henderson and Las Vegas, meanwhile, are able to fund museums at the height of the worst economy in decades because they don’t have to chip in for the extra expense of a service used by their residents. The cities are essentially “bragging” about the fact that Sandoval’s budget takes little from the cities, he added.

The commissioners’ letter proposes no remedy but pleads with the governor “to reconsider your budget proposal to more equitably distribute the burden among all residents in Nevada.”

Two weeks ago, Sisolak made the same argument to legislators, some of whom told him they understand the inequity. “Which means we, the county, have to do a better job explaining it.”

Contacted for comment on the commissioners’ letter, a spokesman for Las Vegas provided a letter to the editor written by City Manager Betsy Fretwell. The letter was a response to a Sun article this month headlined: “Why Sandoval’s cash grab is leaving cities unscathed.”

Fretwell argued “no disparate or unfair treatment of the citizens in the cities versus the unincorporated area” exists, and that Nevadans living in counties from which the state takes money will “be impacted equally.”

“It is unfair to imply that city residents would be getting a free pass,” she wrote.

Sisolak said the letter is factually correct but fails to address his point: Residents of unincorporated Clark County are the only ones suffering when demand for social services and health care breaks the budget and forces the county to deplete money from other services to make up the difference.

“What should we do if UMC expenses go beyond the taxes we get to pay for it? Close the door? We can’t do that,” Sisolak said. “The county’s 900,000 residents are making up the difference and that’s not fair.”